The Film Programs of the American
Cinematheque are presented at the magnificently renovated, historic 1922 Grauman's
Hollywood Egyptian Theatre. Located at 6712 Hollywood Boulevard.

Photo Credit: Randall Michelson. Detail of Egyptian
Theatre Ceiling.

<<<
April 30 - May 4, 2004 >>>

BLACK ON BLACK: THE DIABOLICAL
CINEMA OF HENRI-GEORGES CLOUZOT

Presented in association with the French Film & TV Department 
Consulate General of France

The great French filmmaker Henri-Georges Clouzot (1907-1977) began
as a critic, took up screenwriting at the beginning of the 1930s, and often found himself
toiling away on crime films. But through much of Clouzots directorial career,
beginning in 1942 with the satirical whodunit THE MURDERER LIVES AT 21, he courted heated
controversy and found himself constantly at odds with critics and politicians, as well as
fellow filmmakers. No film did more to foment this aura of hostility than the noirish LE
CORBEAU (1943), a scathing metaphor for the poisonously paranoid atmosphere in wartime
France that was too much  not only for the then-current Vichy administration, but
for the post-war liberation government as well. Clouzot was blacklisted from filmmaking
for four years and the film itself was banned in France.

Upon his return, rather than retreat from his vitriolic sensibility,
Clouzot made a full scale advance, creating stunning portraits of the hidden and unspoken
in humanity etched in acid, from the astonishing policier QUAI DES ORFEVRES (1947)
and the blistering MANON (1949), to later films like the superb, long unavailable LA
VERITE (1960) starring Brigitte Bardot. Even his most successful, award-winning pictures,
WAGES OF FEAR (1953) and DIABOLIQUE (1955), are thrillers intent on yanking back the
covers to coolly and calmly examine what defines need, obsession, and desperation 
indeed the limitless depths of the most base human nature. Clouzot stands as a
courageously contrary voice in the wilderness, a consummate artist plagued with health
problems in later life who plunged ahead relentlessly to the end to realize his vision.
Often compared to such disparate film luminaries as Hitchcock and Fassbinder, Clouzot
remains, in the words of the Cinematheque Ontarios James Quandt, "one of the
most important and controversial directors in the history of French cinema."

Friday, April 30  7:30 PM

Double Feature:

Brand New 35mm Print!THE TRUTH (LA VERITE), 1960, Columbia, 130 min. Dir. Henri-Georges
Clouzot. Brigitte Bardot gives arguably her greatest performance ever (despite her amazing
work with Godard and Vadim) in this scorching portrait of amour fou. Bardot stars
as Dominique, a hedonistic free-spirit on trial for the murder of her lover, musician Sami
Frey. Once again Clouzot breaks ground in his fearless look at private insecurities,
revealing what supposedly constitutes a sordid lifestyle, and why it is so
threatening to bourgeois society. Co-written by Clouzot and his wife Vera (star of
DIABOLIQUE.) Winner of the 1961 Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film.

DIABOLIQUE, 1955, Janus/Criterion,
110 min. Dir. Henri-Georges Clouzot. One of the greatest psychological thrillers ever
made, DIABOLIQUE focuses on the browbeaten wife (Vera Clouzot) of a brutal schoolmaster
and his tough-as-nails mistress (Simone Signoret), as they team up to murder their mutual
tormentor. But thats only the beginning of this edge-of-your-seat affair, a
twisting, turning shocker that still holds up today as one of the all-time classics of
suspense. Legend has it that Clouzot beat Hitchcock to the punch by only an hour in sewing
up rights to the original novel by Pierre Boileau. With sardonic Charles Vanel as the
poker-faced inspector.

Saturday, May 1  5:00 PM

WAGES OF FEAR (LE SALAIRE DE LA PEUR),
1953, Janus/Criterion, 148 min. Four losers from different backgrounds (Yves Montand,
Charles Vanel, Peter Van Eyck, and Folco Lulli  all superb) volunteer to drive
nitroglycerine-loaded trucks from a remote South American village to help put out a raging
oil fire. Director Henri-Georges Clouzot navigates them on a nerve-jangling,
teeth-gritting journey across a treacherous wilderness that conspires to block them from
their goal every step of the way. Suspense films just dont get any better than this,
one of the best nail-biters ever made. Also starring Vera Clouzot as the saloon girl who
is in love with Montand.

Saturday, May 1  8:15 PM

Double Feature:

QUAI DES ORFEVRES, 1947, Rialto
Pictures, 102 min. Maurice (Bertrand Blier), the jealous husband of ambitious cabaret
chanteuse Jenny (Suzy Delair), is blamed for murder when a lecherous movie producer turns
up dead. Director Henri-Georges Clouzotspins a classic police procedural,
following dauntless Inspector Antoine (famous French actor Louis Jouvet, in his greatest
role) as he doggedly goes about untying the knots in this delightfully perplexing,
character-driven mystery. "A classic of post-war French film noir a detective
thriller of unusual psychological intensity, as well as a brilliant portrait of late '40s
Paris."  Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune

THE RAVEN (LE CORBEAU), 1943,
Janus/Criterion, 93 min. Director Henri-Georges Clouzots caustic portrait of small
town bourgeois hypocrisy sparked immediate controversy upon its release; it was despised
by the collaborationist Vichy government and then later banned by the post-war
liberation government! An anonymous writer of poison pen letters known as "Le
Corbeau" (The Raven) sows chaos by revealing the dark secrets of a rural
villages inhabitants. Clouzot conjures an ever more claustrophobic atmosphere with
every shot, a disturbing vision plumbing the depths of the human heart of darkness. With
Pierre Fresnay, Ginette Leclerc. "A superb noir thriller."  Philip
French, The Observer.

THE MURDERER LIVES AT 21
(LASSASSIN HABITE AU 21), 1942, Teledis, 84 min. Clouzots impossibly-rare
debut is a gem of a police mystery that laid the groundwork for the dark splendor of his
later films. Based on the novel by Stanislas-Andre Steeman, LASSASSIN stars Pierre
Fresnay as a police inspector whose search for a notorious serial killer leads him to a
boarding house. One of the boarders must be the killer, but who? Co-starring the
delightful Suzy Delair as the desperate-for-publicity actress, Mila Malou.

Tuesday, May 4  7:30 PM

Double Feature:

THE MYSTERY OF PICASSO (LE MYSTERE
PICASSO), 1956, Milestone, 75 min. Director Henri-Georges Clouzot deals with a
different species of mystery  the mystery of creation  in this enchanting look
into Picassos creative process, the camera mesmerized as Picasso virtually paints on
the movie screen itself. Winner of the Jury Prize at The Cannes Film Festival. "This
marvelous film simply sits back in awe as the grand old man, shirtless and confident,
does what he does best."  Desson Howe, Washington Post

MANON, 1949, Ivy Films, 96 min. One of
Clouzots most neglected masterpieces and winner of the Golden Lion at the Venice
Film Festival in 1949, MANON was his blistering response to the hypocritical reaction in
France to LE CORBEAU. Updating Abbe Prevosts classic novel to post-war France, the
film stars newcomer CÚcile Aubrey (sex-kitten precursor to Brigitte Bardot) as a
prostitute who is condemned as a collaborationist for sleeping with Germans during the
war. Shes rescued from the noose by a smitten resistance fighter (Michel Auclair)
 but once the couple flees from Normandy, Manons desire for the good things in
life leads her directly to Parisian black markets and brothels, a debauched course that
can result only in self-destruction. With Serge Reggiani.